


13 Years Later

by heliomoney



Category: Pundit & Broadcast Journalist RPF (US), Real News RPF, Real Person Fiction
Genre: F/M, Friendship/Love, Infidelity, Love, Unfinished Business
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-24 06:29:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14949368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heliomoney/pseuds/heliomoney
Summary: Jake and Norah have been friends for over a decade, but they still have feelings that haven't been fully addressed.





	13 Years Later

**Author's Note:**

> I was inspired after watching Jake Tapper promote his book on CBS This Morning, and I did some research about how they possibly could have met and turns out, I was right! I re-watched the interview and Jake briefly mentioned being with her on Air Force One, which I didn't catch the first time, but still wrote that they met that way. Also, the first part is Norah's interview with Stephen Colbert word for word until I cut it off. On YouTube you can find both interviews!  
> *sorry i suck at getting dialogue grammatically correct*

~November 18th, 2017; New York City; The Late Show with Stephen Colbert~

 

“Now uh…I bet you don’t remember when we first met” Stephen said with a slight smile.

“Oh man they didn’t tell me you were gonna ask me this…” Norah glistened a much bigger smile, looking out into the audience and then back at Stephen.

“It wasn’t on the card, they didn’t tell ya I was gonna ask you this…”

“Uh…when was the first time we met?”

“It was in 2000 and uhh…5! I’ll give you a hint it was last weekend in April of 2005 in Washington D.C..”

“White House Correspondents’ Dinner?”

“The White House Correspondents’ Dinner!” Stephen affirmed.

“Dang I’m fast!”

“Yeah uh…Jake Tapper, Jake Tapper introduced me to you.”

“Oh yeah…”

 

~April 29th, 2005; Washington D.C.; White House Correspondents’ Dinner~

 

“Norah!” Jake stood across the table where Norah was sitting. She turned away from the endless crowd to look at him.

“Oh hey! You look handsome tonight.” Norah stood up and walked around the table to greet him with a hug.

“Thanks and you look…” Jake hesitated, looking up and down her, waiting for the right words to say. “Incredible as always.”

“Thank you,” she smiled, “I’m just waiting for Geoff to get back. He went to the bathroom and I feel really awkward right now so I’m glad you showed up. Did you bring Jen?”

“No, actually. She was busy tonight. I brought a friend. Stephen. I’ll have to introduce him to you!”

“Oh sure”

 Geoff returned, walking up behind Jake and placing a hand on his right shoulder. Jake turned around, smiling and reaching out his hand.

“Hey, good to see you man.”

“You too, as always. Thanks for keeping her company while I was in the bathroom.” Geoff grabbed his hand and gave it a subtle shake.

“No problem, my pleasure.”

Jake smiled at the both of them before walking back to his table, which wasn’t far from Norah’s. There, Stephen sat at the table greeting people around him. Jake sat down next to him and took a sip of his wine.

“Was that her? Who you were just talking to?’ Stephen asked.

“Yeah. Anndddd that’s her husband.” Jake half whispered, pointing in Geoff’s direction.

“Oh. Don’t tell her this, but she’s way too pretty for him. Or maybe you should tell her.”

“Yeah I know. She’s way too pretty for everybody in this city.”

“Everyone but you?”

“I wish.”

The two sat in silence for nearly a whole minute, staring at the empty stage so far ahead of them before Stephen broke the silence.

“Does Jen know about you guys?”

Jake shook his head, “Wouldn’t dream of telling her.”

They continued to sit in silence amongst the clatter and conversation in the room, both staring up ahead for the rest of the 15 minutes before the dinner started. Jake only broke his stare twice to look back at Norah’s table, where he saw her laughing at something her husband said or conversing with other people at her table.

 

~February 7th, 2004; Washington D.C.; Air Force One~

 

Jake sat in his plane seat writing down notes while he waited for people to finish boarding.

“May I sit here?”

He looked up from his notes, a woman stood above him smiling with a large bag in her hand.

“Yeah, of course.” He smiled as she settled down next to him, placing her bag beneath the seat.

“Thanks so much,” she reached out her hand “Norah O’Donnell, NBC.”

“Yes, I’ve seen and heard about you a couple times.” He took her hand and gently shook it. “Jake Tapper, ABC.”

 He noted her big blue eyes, how her nose crinkled when she smiled, and her scent: a sweet-floral-smelling shampoo. She sighed as she buckled her seatbelt and sunk into her seat before speaking again.

 “So how long do you think we have before we have our briefing? I’m exhausted and I just want to sleep a little before we have to do actual work.”

 They both laughed.

 “Probably awhile. This flight is gonna be about 14 hours. If you do decide to fall asleep, I’ll wake you up for the briefing.”

 “Do you by chance have an extra pen? I can’t believe I forgot mine.”

 “Umm…” Jake reached for his bag, which was sitting at his feet. He unzipped it and searched through it before he found a pouch. “Yes!”

 Norah’s eyes wandered to the bag where she saw a novel tucked inside. She almost immediately recognized the cover.

“Is that _The Great Gatsby_?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve read it a million times like everyone else but I just thought I’d bring it along again to read to pass time,” He responded, passing her a black pen. “It’s a book I really enjoy.”

“I do too. Such a classic. Why don’t you read a new book though?”

“I normally pick up a new book at home. I don’t want to start and forget or get distracted by a new book amidst all my work on these trips, ya know?”

“Yeah that makes sense. I usually go through _at least_ three books a month but covering this campaign has made that impossible.”

“Ugh don’t get me started on the campaign…” Jake rolled his eyes as bent his neck back in exasperation.

They spent the next two hours telling each other stories about Norah being on the campaign trail and Jake working at the fact-checking desk and then talking about their work and media companies they used to work for and the people they work with and their ideal jobs and college and the shows Jake thinks are overrated and Norah’s distaste for certain actors and how they can’t wait to get to their hotel and sleep. Then Norah _did_ finally fall asleep. She ended the conversation with a simple ‘yeah’, looking up at him with tired eyes and leaning her head back. Jake looked out the window for some time, before he felt her head rest on his shoulder. He slowly turned his head to look at her resting eyes, and he smiled.

And for that brief two hours, he forgot about his girlfriend.

 

~January 18th, 2005; Washington D.C.; Old Ebbitt Grill~

 

“If you think this is good you should try my husband’s cooking.” Norah was still chewing on some salmon as she dug her spoon into some coleslaw. Jake sat across from her in a dimly lit area of the room.

“I know, you tell me all the time.”

“Just sayin’, you and Jen should come over and he’ll make us all dinner.”

 Jake looked down at his plate, where there was a half-eaten steak and some mashed potatoes. He suddenly lost his appetite.

 “I think I might propose to Jen.”

 Norah’s smile turned into a confused expression.

 “What? Why?”

 “What do you mean _why_? I love her, that’s why.”

 “Do you Jake? Because if I’m honest, I don’t think you do. I think you’re still pissed at me and now you’re trying to piss me off. I don’t know if you’re just saying it or if you actually mean it, but right now, for you, you have a lot to figure out before you’re ready to get married.”

“She loves me. I mean it.” Jake now felt his face get hot.

 “And _you_ ,” Norah pointed in his direction, “love _me._ ”

 

~November 3rd, 2004; Paris, France; Holiday Inn Paris ~

 

 Jake awoke at two in the morning to his phone ringing. He reached at the nightstand until he got a grip of it, and held it over his face, squinting at the name displayed. _Norah._ He flipped it open and put it against his ear.

“Hello?” He answered, groggily.

“Jake, come up to my room.”

“Why?”

She hung up.

He slowly climbed out of bed and grabbed a pair of sweatpants nearby and wrestled himself into them and added a t-shirt before he walked out of the room. He knocked on a door with the number 227 on it. After a brief moment, he heard a “Come in!” from the inside. He walked in the room, where a single lamp was lit near the bed that Norah was on. She had nothing but a long t-shirt on. She was laying on her side, facing him, with her hand supporting her head and her knees bent.

“Do you…need something?” He asked awkwardly.

Norah patted the space in front of her, gesturing him to join her on the bed. He walked up to her slowly and sat down near her knees and turned his head to look at her

“I just want your company. I can’t sleep.”

“Well you should try because we have the joint conference pretty early tomorrow.”

“It’s not _that_ early. If you’re so worried about me sleeping, you stay in here until I sleep.”

“Well, I need to sleep too.” He felt jittery inside, he felt that something was about to happen but he tried to suppress the feeling.

“Then sleep with me. In here.”

Jake looked down at her left hand in search for her ring. It wasn’t on her finger. He felt excited and giddy yet guilty at the same time. She was married and he had a girlfriend. After a moment, he decided he didn’t care. This was a different country with different rules. He laid next to her and she scooted closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck. She pressed her face into his chest and he wrapped his arms around her waist.

“It’s a messed up situation. I have a crush on you and I know I’m not supposed to.” Norah said into his chest.

“I think I love you and I’m not supposed to,” Jake said less than a second after. He immediately regretted saying it. She looked up at him, mouth slightly opened in disbelief.

“Jake?”

He stood up out of the bed, still facing her.

“I just really like being around you,” He meant for the statement to clean up his original one, but it only affirmed it more. “I’m sorry.”

He walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him and walking off fast. He didn’t look back and she didn’t stop him.

 

~November 18th, 2017; New York City; The Late Show with Stephen Colbert~

           

Norah walked off stage and dropped her T.V. smile as she paced to her dressing room. She closed and locked the door behind her and grabbed her phone out of her purse. She searched through it as she sat down on the vanity chair, tapping the screen as she went, until she put it up to her ear.

_Ring ring_

She could feel her heart pacing.

_Ring ring_

“Hello?”

“Jake?”

“Hey I just saw you on T.V.! Tell Stephen I said hi!”

“Where are you right now?”

“At home. Why?”

“Are you alone?’

“No…” Jake looked out from the kitchen, where he saw Jen sitting in the dining room. “Should I be?” He said in a whisper.

“Yes please. We need to talk.”

“…Okay…I’ll call you back in a second…”

Jake told his wife he was going to take a call from a source, and he grabbed a pen and a small notepad to make it more believable. He headed out to his car and sat in his dark driveway with his car door locked. He called back.

“Okay, what do we need to talk about?”

“Do you remember that week we were in Paris for a State Visit? In like 2004…2005.”

“…Oh…yeah…” Jake’s voice dropped to a neutral tone.

“I was scared, and I didn’t know how to tell you or what it meant or what it could mean but I loved you too.”

The line went silent for nearly ten long seconds.

“Why. Why are you just now telling me this?” Jake’s voice took on a serious and slightly aggressive tone.

“Better late than never, I guess.”

“Better late than never? You’re 13 years too late. _13._ I really loved you. I would have dumped Jen in a heartbeat for you. But guess what? I married her. And, I love her too.” He felt his throat swell up with anger, and hearing himself say the number 13 made his eyes water. He couldn’t believe it had been so many years since that night—13 years that they had known each other, 13 years since he told her that he loved her, and still to this day, up until now, barely a clear and concise conversation about it.

“Jake I’m not saying I would have left Geoff for you…but I had every intention to cheat on him that night.”

“Would you have told me you loved me if I stayed?”

More silence.

“I don’t know honestly. I just wanted to tell you that I did love you back.”

“And what am I supposed to do with that information? You’re my second best friend behind Jen and it doesn’t help if I love you both romantically. Do you love me now?”

“As a friend, of course, but romantically…I’ve done a good job putting those feelings aside.”

“Well I think I still love you.”

Silence.

“I’ll be in Washington tomorrow.”

“Are you staying in a hotel overnight?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

 

~November 19th, 2017; Washington D.C.; Hamilton Hotel~

 

Jake looked down at his phone.

_Room 359_

He looked around the lobby to make sure no one was eyeing him, although he still continued to feel like everyone knew he was there. He casually walked to the elevators and took one to the third floor. He walked up the hallway, counting up the doors until the 59th one.

_Knock knock_

Norah opened the door. For a moment, Jake thought she was going to grab his shirt’s collar and pull him in, but she just stepped aside, holding the door open for him and gestured for him to sit on the couch.

“Hey,” he started, “did you come to talk to me or what?”

“I came to see the White House in person.”

They both quietly laughed. She sat down next to him and put her hand on his back.

“I’m sorry about yesterday.”

“It’s fine. Honestly. I’m at a really good place in my life right now. That was nothing.”

“Yes you are Mr. Celebrity.”

They smiled at each other, not sure what else to say that would avoid the elephant in the room. Finally Jake decided he’d address it anyway; this is what she was here for after all. His smile disintegrated into a stern look.

“No, actually I’m pissed. Maybe you wouldn’t have left Geoff at the time but who knows what would have happened?”

“That would have made things so complicated for the both of us—“

“And it would have been worth it. Fuck complicated. I think it would have been worth it.”

Norah look him in the eyes, lips slightly parted like she had something to say, but she was just in disbelief.

“Do you honestly love Jen?”

“Yes. She’s the mother of my children and I’ve spent over a decade with her by my side. She’s been my rock and my best friend. I spend my day looking forward to when I get to come home and see her and the kids.”

“Then why are you saying these things?”

Jake looked up at the bed in front of them, as if it had the answer to her question. He rubbed his forehead and sighed.

“I guess…I guess I’m bored and I have regrets about how I handled things back in ’05.”

“You’re bored? With what?”

“My marriage. She feels more like my housewife then my best friend lately and god knows I’ve tried hard to have a sex life with her but the kids…work…she’s busy, I’m busy, I have responsibilities. I don’t know.”

“You just said you look forward to seeing her.”

“I do. I don’t think she looks forward to seeing me. She seems irritated with me now. You know, one night she asked me to quit anchoring.”

“What? why?”

“She’s worried about our safety, she’s worried that I’ll screw up and embarrass myself, she knows that practically half of America wants me dead right now.”

“I don’t think that’s true. Besides, she should have known what she signed up for when she started dating a reporter. It’s not like people loved the media up until this point. _I_ wouldn’t make you abandon something you love like that.”

_Except she did_ , Jake thought to himself. He turned his head to face her. Memories of traveling the world and the country with her on Air Force One came rushing back. Playing cards in hotel lobbies, comparing notes in briefing rooms, staying up late finishing work in each other’s hotel rooms, laughing at the president’s ‘Bush-isms’, eating at weird and foreign restaurants, standing behind cameras feet away from each other reporting the news, accidently getting lost in government buildings because they were too busy talking to each other, _how cool it would have been to marry another reporter_ , he thought. _She understands._

“I still have every intention to cheat on Geoff right now.” Norah said, interrupting Jake’s silence.

“That’s kind of screwed up.” Jake joked, a smile forming at the corner of his mouth

“Yeah.” She was now talking in only a whisper, only inches from his face, hand on his thigh. He leaned into her face to kiss her, grabbing her gently by the back of her head. After a moment, she ended the kiss by standing up and moving to the bed and sitting down at the edge, then reaching down to take off her heels.

Jake looked at her, still on the couch. He now realized the potential consequences of what he was doing. He’s only a few miles from his home, his wife and kids, and he’s about to betray them. He began making up excuses to himself in his head, trying to brush away the guilt. He refocused his attention on her and stared into her eyes until the guilt dissolved into lust.

“I’ll need help with my dress. There’s a zipper on the back.”

Jake smiled and joined her on the bed, reaching both hands behind her, pulling down the zipper, then taking off his shoes. She stood up and pulled the dress off up over her head, while Jake moved himself up against the headboard and pillows, where he unbuttoned his light blue dress shirt. Norah, now just in a strapless bra and panties, sat on his lap, and unbuttoned the last two buttons for him. She pulled his dress shirt off his shoulders then pulled off the white t-shirt that was hidden underneath. She leaned into his neck, kissing and softly sucking on it while slowly grinding her hips on his lap until she could feel him rise underneath her. Finally, she reached for his belt and pulled it loose, quickly unbuttoning and unzipping his pants after. She moved herself off of him so he could kick his pants off his legs and onto the floor. She reached back over to pull on the band of his briefs down until he was out of them. She sat back on his lap, and continued to move her hips back and forth along his shaft until she could feel her panties dampening. Jake reached behind her again to unhook her bra and threw it to the side, then tugged at her panties until she sat up and pulled them off of herself. She grabbed his shaft and positioned him at an angle so she could let him slide in as she lowered herself on his lap. She dropped herself onto him, which prompted a sigh from the both of them. He buried himself in her chest as she began slowly bouncing on him. She had one arm wrapped around his neck, the other she used to run her hand through his hair. She began lifting and lowering her hips faster, and her breathing got heavier. Jake let out quiet sighs and groans, but they came more often and a little louder as she sped up. He grabbed her hips and lifted her up slightly in the air on her hands and knees, while he laid back, staying inside her. From beneath, he began lifting his hips trying to match her rhythm. He got faster and faster until she couldn’t keep up, and she stayed lifted on her hands and knees, overwhelmed by the pressure she felt in her pelvis.

“ _Oh my god_ …” She barely let out. Her voice was shaking at this point. His sighs turned into groans, which turned into grunts, which turned into the occasional “ _Fuck”_. He stopped himself, caught his breath, and got out from beneath her. He lifted her higher into the air, still on her hands and knees and he positioned himself on his knees behind her. He grabbed himself and slid in her from behind. She let out more moans before letting out a series of sounds she didn’t recognize when he began thrusting, increasing his speed for the first ten seconds. He dug his hands into her hips, gritting his teeth.

“ _Please Jake…_ ” He grabbed her hips even tighter, now pulling her into him with each thrust until they were crashing into each other.

“ _Ahh yeahh…”_ Jake’s face flushed red. Norah’s back was now arched, her bottom in the air and her face in the sheets, her hands laid above her head, gripping pillow cases. Her moans were almost cries now and his eyes were rolled back in his head. Finally, he pulled out, and began stroking himself fast until semen splattered on her back. He flipped her around and pressed his face between her legs, circling and flinging his tongue around her clit until she finished, shortly after him.

He crawled up next to her before collapsing onto the bed and catching his breath. Norah turned on her side to face him, and he turned his head to her in response. He looked into her big blue eyes again, just like he did the day they first met.

“I love you too.” Norah whispered.

“I always knew you did.”


End file.
